A Fire Burnt Out
by Cyrox
Summary: Starfire leaves the Teen Titans after she inadvertently kills a criminal.


A Fire Burnt Out

Cyrox

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

Cinderblock and a group of three people who work for Slade broke into a factory. They were able to get past the guards, take some computer parts, and make their way to the roof.

"Sorry," Robin said as he and the Teen Titans appeared from the shadows, "it's for display only."

The henchmen ran off with the computer parts while Cinderblock took on the Titans.

"Starfire and I will go after the parts. Everyone else take care of Cinderblock," Robin ordered.

"Got it," Cyborg said as the team split up.

Cyborg and Beast Boy surrounded Cinderblock. Beast Boy turned into a rhinoceros while Cyborg prepared his cannon. Beast Boy charged at the villain, but Cinderblock grabbed his horn and threw him into Cyborg.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted as she levitated into the air and fired five metal crates at Cinderblock.

He was hit by one, but he quickly recovered and punched the four away from him. One of the deflected crates flew back at Raven and hit her, causing her to fall. Beast Boy morphed back and caught her in his arms.

"Nice catch, huh," Beast Boy bragged.

"Great," Raven sarcastically said as he put her down.

Robin and Starfire chased after the three men who had the computer parts. The henchmen each took some of the parts, but them into three briefcases, and split up as they ran across the rooftops.

"We'll need to split up if we want to get the parts back," Robin said.

"Yes," Starfire agreed.

Robin chased after the criminal who was going left and Starfire chased after the one going right.

Starfire flew as high as she could so she could keep a close eye on the man that she was chasing. After aiming, she shot an energy bolt that knocked the guy to the ground. While the guy was stunned, she flew down and picked up the briefcase.

"Wait," The criminal said as he recovered.

Starfire watched as he walked over to the edge of the building. He took out his blaster and pointed it toward the ground.

"Let's make a deal," He said, "either you give me the parts back, or else some people will get hurt."

Then he fired his blaster down into the darkness. Although neither of them could see what was down there, the blast nearly hit a couple that was walking by the building.

"I must ask you to stop," Starfire said, "you cannot hurt these innocent people."

But the henchman just laughed and fired his blaster again. Once again, nobody was hurt. Starfire became enraged as her eyes turned bright green.

"I asked you to stop!" She said as she fired another energy bolt.

Starfire didn't aim properly because of her anger. So the bolt hit the guy right in the head, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the side of the building. Starfire was shocked as she saw him fall. She tried to save him, but it was too dark to spot him. When she flew down to the ground, she saw the criminal lying there. Starfire walked over to him and checked his pulse. But she didn't feel anything.

"What have I done?" Starfire said as a tear fell from her right eye.

Robin was able to stop the first guy with a batarang. And when he picked up the first briefcase, he went after the third guy who took the centre path.

He ran across the rooftops as fast as he could and was able to spot the criminal.

"You're not getting away!" Robin said to himself.

The boy wonder chased after the criminal. And when the guy was in range, Robin threw his grappling hook at him and tied it around the thug's feet. The thug tripped and fell to the ground.

"Two down," Robin said as he picked up the second briefcase, "I'll see if the others need any help with Cinderblock."

Meanwhile, the others were not having any luck with Cinderblock.

"This is getting us nowhere," Raven stated.

"Maybe we should attack him in a triangular form," Cyborg suggested.

The others nodded and the three of them moved into position, with Cyborg was on his left, Raven on his right, and Beast Boy standing right in front of him.

"Hey brick head," Beast Boy taunted, "bet you can't catch me!"

BB morphed into a rabbit and ran as fast as he could. Cinderblock charged after him and didn't notice that the others were getting ready to launch an attack. Raven chanted and launched another metal crate at the villain. Cinderblock noticed it and tried knock it back, but Cyborg hit him from behind. The cement villain lost his balance and was hit in the head with the crate. Then Beast Boy finished him off by morphing into a ram and butting him right in the stomach. Cyborg grabbed two cables and used them to tie Cinderblock up.

"He won't be going anywhere for a while," Cyborg said.

"Good," Robin said as he arrived with the two criminals he captured, "he'll need company."

Robin placed the criminals next to Cinderblock and left the briefcases at the building the thugs took them from. Star returned with the third briefcase after that.

"Another great victory," Cyborg said.

"We should celebrate!" Beast Boy said.

"How about a pizza?" Robin suggested.

"You know those two never agree on the toppings," Raven stated, "I know I'll regret saying this, but how about some ice cream."

"Yeah!" Cyborg and Beast Boy said.

"You want some Star?" Robin asked.

"Yes, I guess so," Starfire said.

She didn't really care what they did next because she was still upset over what happened.

"This is it," Cyborg said as a giant Sundae was placed in front of them.

The Sundae have at least fifty scoops of ice cream of many flavors. The ice cream was covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream. And a cherry was on top of the ice cream mountain.

"Dig in," Cyborg said.

The boys grabbed a spoon and took bite after bite as fast as they could. Raven just stared at them, wondering how they could act that way in public. Starfire wasn't paying any attention at what was going on. She still couldn't get the sight of the thug's death out of her mind. Robin looked over to her and noticed that she was not eating.

"You not hungry Star?" He asked.

"I am afraid that this iced cream cannot end my sorrows," She said.

The others instantly knew that something was wrong.

"I did a horrible thing today," She explained, "the criminal that I chased was threatening to hurt innocent people. I asked him to stop be he refused to listen. And when I fired an energy bolt, I accidentally knocked him off a building and ..."

Starfire burst into tears as she said that. Everyone else started to feel bad for her.

"I am sorry but I must return to the tower, I wish to be alone," Starfire explained as she flew off.

The Titans watched as she flew out of the ice cream parlor. The mood there was so serious that Beast Boy didn't ask if he could have her share.

Morning came and Starfire didn't show up for breakfast. The others knew that she still must be saddened by what happened the other day.

"I'll talk to her," Robin said, "death is something that I know well."

"I'll go too," Raven said.

"I'd better tag along," Cyborg said.

They turned to Beast Boy to see if he'd join them.

"It would be better if I didn't come," Beast Boy said, "I always screw up dramatic moments."

The others understood him and went to find Starfire. Beast Boy followed them shortly after because he wanted to see what was going to happen. He found the three of them outside Starfire's room, waiting for her to come out.

"So how did it go?" Beast Boy asked.

"She wanted to be alone for the past time," Cyborg explained.

Soon she came out carrying a pink duffle bag on her shoulder.

"I have made my decision," Starfire said, "I am leaving the Teen Titans."

"What?" Robin shouted. "You can't! We need you!"

"I am sorry Robin, but I do not wish to do anymore fighting right now."

"But Star ..." Robin shouted as she walked away from them.

"Let her go," Raven said, "she's in a lot of pain right now and it might be best if she handles it alone."

"But ..."

"I think Raven's right," Cyborg said, "we've all had to take a life and we handled it in our own way."

"I agree," Beast Boy said, "she needs time along and I think we should give it to her."

"Told ya I could be serious," Beast Boy whispered to Raven.

Although Robin agreed with everyone and what they said, he just couldn't get Starfire out of his mind.

Hours past and the sky was growing darker and darker. Starfire flew over many towns until she noticed a circus that was leaving town. She landed in the middle of the grounds and looked around.

"Excuse me," She said to the workers who were walking around, "could you please take me to the man that is in charge of this area."

The ringmaster of the circus overheard Starfire and approached her. He looked at her and a huge smile appeared on his face.

"So you want to join us?" he asked.

"Not really," Starfire told him, "but I heard that this is the place that people go to when they want to leave home."

"Well, since you want a job" The ring master said, "we'll check out your talents later."

"Ok," Starfire said.

Starfire looked at the area around her, checking out the new place where she will be living.

"I have just arrived at my new home," she said, "but I am starting to miss my old one."

During that time, Robin was still shocked about Starfire leaving. He had remained in his room ever since she announced it.

"Lunch is ready if you're interested," Cyborg said as he opened the door.

"I'm not hungry," Robin told him.

"Are you still thinking about her?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes," Robin explained.

"She'll come back," Cyborg said, "I'm sure of it."

"I just wish I could be more help to her."

"So, you're from Tamaran, right?" The ringmaster asked.

"Yes," Starfire told him.

"Do you have any special abilities?" He asked.

"Well, I can fly and shoot star bolts," She explained.

"Perfect," He explained, "now if you'll just follow me, you can get started."

The ringmaster lead Starfire outside of his trailer and took her to a large box. On the side of it was a door.

"I want you to enter this door and I will follow you so we can discuss your position," He said.

Starfire walked through the door. The whole area was completely dark, but Starfire could tell that it was a large area.

"I do not understand why you would want to talk to me in such a dark area," Starfire said.

But the closest thing she got to an answer was the sound of the door closing.

"What is going on?" Starfire asked.

"Let's just say that this is your new home," The ringmaster said from the outside.

Then the walls fell down and Starfire realized that she was locked in a cage. Then the ringmaster pulled off his human mask to reveal his true face. His head had dark red skin. He had large yellow eyes, no nose, pointy ears, and a large mouth with sharp fangs inside of it.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"People will want to see a Tamaranian in my show," the ringmaster said, "just think of it as like one of those Earth zoos."

"But I do not want to live my life like this," Starfire said.

"You'll get used to it," The ringmaster laughed as he put his mask back on.

Then he walked away, leaving Starfire on her own.

"At least I will not be able to kill anybody here," She said to herself.

Morning came and Starfire woke up from the hard floor of her cage. She looked outside of the bars and saw many other creatures that were also locked in cages. Many of them were enraged at the ringmaster, but he held them back with an electric whip.

"After tonight we're leaving Earth," The man said, "and I expect to see all of you at your best."

"So I am to leave Earth," Starfire said to herself, "I guess I am to live the rest of my life sad."

"I thought Tamaranians were very happy people," A voice said.

Starfire looked around and saw that the speaker was a lime green alien that was seven feet tall and looked kind of like a yeti.

"I did something terrible," She explained.

"And what was it?"

"It started with this criminal who was firing his blaster gun on innocent people on top of this tall building. I told him to stop, but he would not listen. He made me so mad that I fired one of my star bolts at him. The star bold hit him in the head and it caused him to fall ..."

Starfire wasn't able to continue at that point and she broke into tears.

"I see," The creature said, "we'll all make actions that we will regret. But we can't let them take over our lives. And maybe even try and see some good in it."

"There is nothing good about what I did," Starfire explained.

"It probably wasn't the right thing to do. But why did you do it?"

"I didn't mean to," She explained, "but I could not let him kill all those people."

"And what would have happened if you ignored it?" He asked.

"Many innocent lives would have been killed."

Starfire was kind of amazed at that statement. While she still felt bad about what she did, Starfire found out that there would have been worse consequences if she didn't act.

"When I first decided to be a super hero, I was told that I would sometimes make serious sacrifices. While I can never say that what I did was right, I know now that what I did was not wrong," Starfire said as her happiness returned, "thank you mister ..."

"Just call me Quan," The guy said.

"Now I must escape from this wicked man and return to my friends," Starfire exclaimed.

"I'm afraid you can't," Quan told her, "some others and I have tried to escape, but these cages are made out of indestructible metal."

"But we can not give up. We must do something to escape before we're halfway across the galaxy," Starfire said, "and I have an idea that will help."

An hour later, the ringmaster gave his prisoners their breakfast. Then he went into his office and started planning the tour that he was going to take. At that point, he heard a loud scream. He ran outside to see what was going on. He looked around to see what was going on and noticed that Quan was very nervous about something.

"What is it?" the ringmaster asked.

"The Tamaranian girl collapsed shortly after eating the food that you gave her," Quan explained.

The ringmaster looked at the cage and noticed that Starfire was lying on the ground.

"I'm sure that the food I gave her is harmless to people of her race," he thought, "it's probably a trick. Time to teach her a lesson."

He took out his electric whip, found an area between the bars, and prepared to strike Starfire with it. He cracked the whip toward her, but she got up and grabbed the whip just before it hit her. Then she pulled it toward her, causing the ringmaster to fly toward her cage. Then she used the whip to tie his hands to the bars of the cage.

"I'll take that," She teased as she grabbed his keys.

Starfire ran to the door of her cage and unlocked it. Then she continued to do the same with the other prisoners of the circus until every alien there was released. After that, she untied the ringmaster.

"You've ruined me Tamaranian!" He said.

"No I did not," She said, "you made that mistake when you decided to treat all these creatures like animals."

"But what are you going to do to me?" He demanded.

"Nothing," She said, "I do not wish to harm you. But I must warn you that the other people here do wish to harm you."

The ringmaster let out a large gulp as the other aliens surrounded him.

It was a hard night at Titan's Tower. Robin was still saddened by Starfire's disappearance and the others missed her too.

"She'll come back," Raven said, "she just needs some time alone."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked, "The situation was very serious to her."

"Everyone handles that thing in their own way," Beast Boy explained, "Raven became a serious recluse who wouldn't even talk while Cyborg kept stuffing his face so much that we had to buy groceries every day."

"And don't forget your bad poetry," Cyborg teased.

"I was getting to that," Beast Boy snidely remarked.

"I don't care," Robin said, "all I know is that we're not a team without her."

"Then we are once again a team," A happy voice said.

The Titans immediately knew who it was and they all rushed to greet Starfire.

"You're back!" Robin said.

"Yes," Starfire said, "I know that I cannot remove what I did, but I will not allow it to separate me from my friends."

"Glad your back," Cyborg said.

"You rock," Beast Boy said.

"I know I don't usually say this," Raven started, "but we should celebrate this moment."

"I agree," Starfire said, "perhaps we should get some of that iced cream we had last time."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Robin told her.


End file.
